More than 10,000 fugitives, including 162 accused or convicted of murder, have been captured in a weeklong nationwide apprehension operation, US law enforcement officials said Thursday.

A total of 10,340 people had been captured in the coast-to- coast sweep between April 4 and April 10, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced at a news conference with US Marshals Service director Ben Reyna.

Among the captured are 162 accused or convicted of murder, 638 wanted for armed robbery, 553 wanted for rape or sexual assault, 154 gang members and 106 unregistered sex offenders, the officials said. Sixteen foreign and international fugitives were among those apprehended.

"These defendants had long rap sheets and they have been free to roam the streets for far too long," said Gonzales.

More than 3,000 law enforcement officials took part in the mission dubbed "Operation Falcon", coordinated by five national fugitive task forces and 83 district task forces led by the US Marshals Service.

The dragnet was the largest ever in numbers of arrests and involved local, state and federal authorities, said Marshals Service spokesman David Turner.

Source: Xinhua